Firearm errors
Books Carrie (1974) -none ’Salem's Lot (1975) Ch. 10 - The Lot III, Subch. 1, pg. 225, King writes "…the trigger of the .30-.30…". The proper designation is ".30-30". King makes the same error in Apt Pupil, Desperation, and The Stand. Ch 14 - The Lot IV, Subch. 5, pg. 338, Ben finds a .38 revolver and we are told "He checked the safety to be sure it was on, and put the gun...". Revolvers do not have "Safeties". The Shining (1977) Ch. 18 - The Scrapbook, pg. 157, We read that one of the items Derwent patented was "...a machine gun that was cooled by alcohol...". There are water-cooled machine guns, but using a highly flammable liquid -alcohol- as the primary coolant would be an unwise decision. Night Shift (1978) -none The Stand (1978) Ch. 26, pg. 219, A soldier fires the entire "clip" in his rifle at Ray Flowers. The proper term is "magazine". King makes the same error in Desperation and The Waste Lands A soldier shoots the sergeant with recoilless rifle that fires 70 gas-tipped slugs per second. Three problems. A recoilless rifle is not a shoulder fired rifle like an AR-15 or FAL. What is a "gas-tipped" slug? (No such thing) Recoilless rifles do not have rates of fire that high. In fact the quoted 70 rps (rounds per second) equals 4,200 rpm (rounds per minute)! That's approaching the rate of fire of an M61 Vulcan Cannon which fires 6,000 rpm. Ch. 29, pg. 257, Stu notes that the gun Elder carries is a revolver. On page 260, Elder is then sent to execute Stu. Stu hits Elder's arm with a chair and the gun discharges and falls to the ground where it fires again on impact with the floor. Two problems. A revolver would not be able to fire a second round as described as the hammer would be resting on a spent round. Stu is shaking so much he thinks that if Elder gets up, he'd miss him with all five bullets. Two bullets have been fired from this six shooter, leaving only four. Ch. 35, pg. 307, Larry acquires a ".30-.30" from Manhattan Sporting Goods. This isn't a typo as it is given the same designation (Ch. 41, pg. 384) from there on out. The proper designation is ".30-30". King makes the same error in Apt Pupil, Desperation, and 'Salem's Lot. Ch. 38, pg. 353, Irma Fayette of Lodi CA. had gotten her father's .45 from the attic. When approached by a drunk blond man, she shot aimed the .45 at the drink and pulled the trigger. We then read "The pistol exploded, killing her instantly.". While firearms can malfunction and have a catastrophic failure, it is extremely unlikely for the shooter to be killed by such a malfunction in a pistol, let alone be killed instantly. Ch. 48, pg. 611, The Kid "…thumbed the triggers on both guns up to half-cock.". Three problems. Half-cock is a safety position. You manipulate the hammer into a cocked position not the trigger. King makes the same error in The Little Sisters of Eluria, Misery, and Wizard and Glass. From a normal grip your thumb can't even reach the trigger. pg. 614, When The Kid opens fire at the timberwolves, Trashcan Man smells the smoke and we are told, "its cordite aroma stung…". Two problems. Cordite was developed, produced and used primarily in the UK, not the USA so it's highly unlikely The Kid would be using .45 rounds with cordite. By the end of WWII, cordite was mostly replaced by other propellants making it even more unlikely The Kid would have rounds that used cordite. Ch. 64, pg. 973, When Harold was laying in the ravine after his accident, he checks his gun and sees he has three rounds left. He mentally notes he had fired two at Nadine. This indicates the revolver's capacity is five, yet we later learn (page 977) he has a Colt which would make the revolver a six-shooter. We are also told Harold "…had been careful to keep the gun dry.". Stephen King seems to be under the impression that if bullets get wet they are useless as he makes this same error in The Drawing of the Three. pg. 975, Here we are told Harold is carrying a Colt, yet we were told (Ch. 52, pg. 731) that Harold was carrying a .38 Smith & Wesson in his army surplus flak jacket. pg. 977-978, Harold's pistol is identified as a Woodsman model, Colt revolver in 38 caliber (pg. 1043). Colt did make a Woodsman model, but it was a .22 semi-automatic. King makes the same error in Cycle of the Werewolf. pg. 978, Harold put his notebook with his suicide note back in the Triumph's saddle bag before shooting himself. Yet when he's found by Stu and the others (Ch. 72, pg. 1043) he is clutching the notebook in one hand. The Dead Zone (1979) Ch. 21, pg. 348, We read that several cops "…had gone out and bought .357 Magnums, the gun immortalized by Dirty Harry…". It was a .44 Magnum in those movies. Firestarter (1980) -none Cujo (1981) -none Danse Macabre (1981) -none Different Seasons (1982) Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, pg. 53, Tommy Williams tells Red about Elwood Blatch and says he was "Like a pistol with a sawed-off firing pin.". He goes on to say he knew a guy who had a Smith and Wesson with a sawed-off firing pin and that the pull on the gun was so light it would fire if put on a stereo with the sound turned up. Two problems. Sawing off the firing pin of a gun would make the gun inoperable as it is the firing pin that hits the cap in the round setting off the gunpowder within. As you can see from the attached photo, cutting the firing pin would have no impact on how heavy the trigger pull is on a gun. Apt Pupil, Ch. 16, pg. 216, Todd is given a Winchester ".30-.30". The proper designation is ".30-30". King makes the same error in Desperation, 'Salem's Lot, and The Stand. When Todd points the unloaded rifle at a woman and pulls the trigger, we read "It was bad for the firing-pin…". Dry firing a modern centerfire rifle does not damage the firing pin. Christine (1983) -none Pet Sematary (1983) -none The Talisman (1984) -none Cycle of the Werewolf (1985) December, pg. 120, We read "There is a gun in Marty's lap, a .38 Colt Woodsman.". Colt did make a Woodsman model, but it was a .22 semi-automatic. King makes the same error in The Stand. Skeleton Crew (1985) -none It (1986) -none The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) -none Misery (1987) Part I: Annie, Subch. 34, pg. 83, Paul remembers Annie "…cocking the shotgun's two triggers…". You cock the hammer, not the trigger. King makes the same error in The Little Sisters of Eluria, The Stand, and Wizard and Glass. Part III: Paul, Subch. 32, pg. 277, Annie points her shotgun towards the KTKA camera-man. A few lines later it says that she was holding a rifle. The Tommyknockers (1987) Ch. - Tommyknockers, Knocking at the Door, Subch. 1, pg. 508, When the gun Gardener has fails to fire, he "…tried to pull the slide back…". Ok, so the gun is a semi-auto. But wait, when he found it in Bobbie's shed (Book III - The Tommyknockers, Ch. 4 - The Shed, Subch. 6, pg. 428), it is described as "…the biggest, oldest-looking gun Gardener had ever seen…" and "…he picked the gun up and rolled the cylinder.". So here, it is clearly a revolver. Dark Visions (1988) The Dark Half (1989) -none My Pretty Pony (1989) -none Four Past Midnight (1990) -none Needful Things (1990) -none Gerald's Game (1992) -none Dolores Claiborne (1993) -none Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) -none Insomnia (1994) -none Rose Madder (1995) -none Desperation (1996) Part I - Highway 50 In the House of the Wolf, the House of the Scorpion, Ch. 5, Subch. 5 pg. 154 After retrieving the shotgun from where Mary dropped it, Entragian stood up "…flipping a lever on the side of the shotgun as he did so. It broke open…". Break action shotguns have the lever on top of the gun not the side --See Photo--. Part II - Desperation: in these Silences Something May rise, Ch. 2, Subch. 5, pg. 270 David acquires the cops revolver after escaping the cell. He looks at the front of the cylinder and sees "…bullet--heads in every hole he could see". The next line tells us "The first chamber might be empty—in the movies cops sometimes did that to keep from shooting themselves by accident—but he reckoned that wouldn't matter if he pulled the trigger at least twice…". David just saw the chambers were full, so the first trigger pull will be on a loaded chamber. On older revolvers it is wise to keep one chamber empty, but that is the chamber that the hammer is resting on. Old guns can be fired if the hammer is struck (ie. from being dropped). There would never be a need to keep the next cylinder in line unloaded. Ch. 3, Subch. 2, pg. 279, When David fires the .45 at the coyote, we read that Johnny "…had heard the slugs go home…". This is impossible. Not only are the sounds of impacts with flesh very quiet, the bullets are traveling faster than the speed of sound so at that range, the bullets would hit the coyote while the sound of the gunshot was still occurring so there is no way Johnny heard the impact over the sound of the .45 being fired. Subch. 3, pg. 286-290, Johnny uses the keys to unlock the guns and "—a Remington .30-.06— came tumbling out.". The correct designation is .30-06. pg. 292, When Johnny and Mary bring the guns to the rest of the group we are told "…Billingsley pulled the rifles out…". What happened to the shotgun? The shotgun does reappear a few lines down when Mary takes it. Billingsley says "You didn't get nothing that'll fit that Mossberg,…" and "…it's chambered for .22s.". So the Mossberg is a .22 rifle. Johnny ends up getting stuck with this rifle at the bottom of this page. However Johnny is later (Ch 4, Subch. 1, pg. 311), jealous of Ralph Carver because "…Mr. Suburban Ohio's rifle was loaded, unlike the Mossberg shotgun which Johnny now picked up.". Stephen King had just told us the Mossberg was a .22 Rifle! Part IV - The China Pit: God is Cruel, Ch. 2, Subch. 2, pg. 557 Ripton has several firearms. Among them is a Ruger Speed-Six which Stephen King tells us is "…useless as a primary weapon…" and "…not accurate at a distance greater than a dozen feet…". Handgun are less accurate than rifles, but to claim they aren't accurate past 12 feet is just silly. People make 100 yard (300 feet) shots with handguns. One of Ripton's other guns was a "…completely illegal Iver Johnson auto under a blanket. Next to it are two dozen thirty round clips in a Nike shoebox.". Three problems. Iver Johnson was a firearm manufacturer beteen 1871 & 1993 known primarily for their top break revolvers that they named “Safety Automatic” due to the transfer bar and "automatic ejection" of cartridges upon opening the revolver. Nothing illegal about them. Revolvers do not use magazines. They're called Magazines, not clips. King makes the same error in The Stand and The Waste Lands Ch. 5, Subch. 3, pg. 642 Steve describes one of the bodies as "…a guy with a .30-.30 haircut.". The correct designation is ".30-30". King makes the same error in Apt Pupil, 'Salem's Lot and The Stand. The Green Mile (1996) -none Six Stories (1997) -none Bag of Bones (1998) -none The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) -none Hearts in Atlantis (1999) -none The New Lieutenant's Rap (1999) -none Storm of the Century (1999) -none The Plant: Zenith Rising (2000) -none Riding the Bullet (2000) -none On Writing (2000) -none Dreamcatcher (2001) -none Black House (2001) -none Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (2002) -none From a Buick 8 (2002) -none The Colorado Kid (2005) -none Faithful (2005) -none Cell (2006) -none Lisey's Story (2006) -none Duma Key (2008) -none Ur (2009) -none Just After Sunset (2008) -none Under the Dome (2009) -none Throttle (2009) -none Full Dark, No Stars (2010) -none 11/22/63 (2011) -none Blockade Billy (2012) -none Doctor Sleep (2013) -none Joyland (2013) -none The Dark Tower Series: (1982 - 2012) The Gunslinger 1 (1982/2003) The Gunslinger, I, pg. 12, The grips on Roland's guns have "…sandalwood, yellow and finely grained.". However, in "Drawing of the Three" (Prologue: The Sailor, pg. 18), we read Roland's guns have "…worn ironwood handgrips…". They are again made of sandalwood in The Drawing of the Three (Reshuffle, reshuffle, Subch. 13, pg. 301). pg. 62 During the shootout in Tull, Stephen King writes "...the gunslinger's fingers did their reloading trick. The tips of his fingers sizzled and burned. Neat circles were branded into the tips of each one." Problem. When reloading a single action revolver such as the gunslinger's guns, the spent casings are pushed out by an ejection rod which hangs under the barrel. Fresh cartridges are placed in through a loading gate - and ARE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE when doing so. There is NEVER any residual heat buildup on the shell being loaded as those rounds have not been in the gun. Oddly - one illustration shows a set of crossed revolvers - in fact Ruger Blackhawks.) This error still exists in the "Revised and Expanded" version as well (Viking 1st edition Hardcover pg. 65) This error was reported by an anonymous Wiki Contributor. Thank you! The Drawing of the Three 2 (1987) Prologue: The Sailor. pg. 15 Roland wakes up in the ocean's surf, and worries about his ammunition getting wet. King writes "Wet guns could be quickly disassembled, wiped dry, oiled, wiped dry again, oiled again, and reassembled; wet shells, like wet matches, might or might not ever be usable again.". Stephen King seems to be under the impression that if bullets get wet they are useless as he makes this same error in The Stand. In reality, rifle and pistol ammunition can be wet, even submerged for some time without deleterious effect. This error was reported by "D D Survilla". Thank you! pg. 18, We read Rolands pistols have "…worn ironwood handgrips…". However, in "The Gunslinger" (Ch. 1, pg. 12), we were told Roland's guns have "…sandalwood, yellow and finely grained." grips. They are sandalwood again in (Reshuffle, reshuffle, Subch. 13, pg. 301). Ch. 5 - Showdown and Shoot-Out, Subch. 22, pg. 142, During the shootout at Balazar's office, we are told that "…the guy from the storage room had a Remington shotgun sawed off so short that it looked like a derringer with a case of the mumps…". That would be ok if we did not a short time later (pg. 148) learn that this was a pump-action shotgun. The basic mechanics of a pump-action requires a longer barrel length. --See photo-- The barrel needs to be longer to allow for the pump mechanism. pg. 148-149, Tricks, one of Balazar's men, opens fire with his "Wonderful Rambo Machine" which we had just learned (pg. 147) was an "M-16". We then read that "In real life" these weapons are uncontrollable. "After the first four or five rounds, two things happen to a man -even a powerful one-… …The muzzle begins to rise and the shooter himself begins to turn either right or left, depending on which unfortunate shoulder he has decided to bludgeon with the weapon's recoil. In short, only a moron or a movie star would attempt the use of such a gun…". The "M-16 fires a 5.56×45mm NATO round which is considered an intermediate round. It is far smaller than the common .30-06 (7.62x51mm NATO) hunting rifle --See photo-- so the recoil is quite tame. In addition, the rifle itself is designed in such a way to absorb a good deal of the limited recoil that is generated. A quick search on YouTube will provide the reader ample examples of the M16/AR15 being controlled -even at full auto- by people with average and even small builds. They are not the "spray 'n pray" weapons King tries to portray them as. Ironically, it is only "In movies" -and poorly researched books- where these types of firearms throw their user around. Ch. 4 - Detta on the Other Side, Subch. 12, pg. 267, This subchapter starts with Roland using "…his last sure live cartridge…" to take one of the lobstrosities for dinner. The other rounds, had gotten wet at the beginning of the book and Roland wasn't sure they were reliable. Why aren't they (Roland and Eddie) using the questionable rounds for taking such simple prey and saving the sure-fire rounds for real emergencies? Ch. 4 - The Drawing, Subch. 7, pg. 377, Officer O'Mearah draws the .357 and challenges Roland. The officer was holding an unloaded gun (We are told this twice pg. 357 & 358). Roland breaks open the shotgun the officers were using and then works the pump action to eject the shells. Pump action shotguns operate with a completely different mechanism from a "break action" aka "break open" shotgun --See Photo--. A pump shotgun does not break open. To unload a pump gun one simply works the action while holding a release button. The Waste Lands 3 (1991) Ch. III - Door and Demon, Subch. 6, pg. 157, Jake takes his fathers .44 Ruger Automatic. Ruger has never made a .44 Automatic. Jake unloads the pistol by taking out the "clip" because "Keeping a loaded gun in a locked desk drawer was one thing; carrying one around New York City was quite another. Two problems. The gun is not yet unloaded. Jake has not taken the round out of the chamber. The proper term is "magazine". This error is repeated on page 320. King makes the same error in Desperation and The Stand. Wizard and Glass 4 (1997) Ch. III - The Wizard, Subch. 7, pg. 648, King writes "Roland breathed, thumbing back the trigger.". Two problems. To prep a revolver for firing, you manipulate the hammer into a cocked position not the trigger. From a normal grip your thumb can't even reach the trigger. King makes the same error in The Little Sisters of Eluria, Misery, and The Stand. Subch. 8, pg. 649, Roland's gun fails to fire when pointed at Flagg. So while still holding his gun in his left hand -the passage specifically states this-, Roland grabs the Ruger from his waistband with his right hand -the hand missing the index and middle finger- and after a slight fumble as he draws, and fires three rounds at Flagg. This means Roland is holding the Ruger with just the Pinkie and Thumb of his right hand and pulling the trigger with his ring finger. This seems impossible to me. Wolves of the Calla 5 (2003) -pending Song of Susannah 6 (2004) -pending The Dark Tower 7 (2004) -pending The Little Sisters of Eluria 0.5 (1998) Part I - Full Earth. The Empty Town. The Bells. The Dead Boy. The Overturned Wagon. The Green Folk., pg. 32, Roland thumbed back the trigger of his revolver. To prep a revolver for firing, you manipulate the hammer into a cocked position not the trigger. From a normal grip your thumb can't even reach the trigger. King makes the same error in Misery, The Stand, and Wizard and Glass The Wind Through the Keyhole 4.5 (2012) -pending Richard Bachman Books Rage (1977) -none The Long Walk (1979) -none Roadwork (1981) Part 1 - November, November 20, 1973, pg. 446 A man at the gun shop "...thumbed back the slide...". You can not move the slide of a semi-auto, with just one finger(thumb). The Running Man (1982) Thinner (1984) Ch. 22 - Ginelli's Story pg. 247 Talking about the Kalashnikov AK-47 ammunition, SK writes "…bullets, each in a casing almost as long as a king-size cigarette, each powered with a hundred and forty grains of powder…". Several problems. The ammunition an AK47 uses is nowhere near that long, --See Photo-- or that powerful. The OAL -Over All Length- of a 7.62x39 round is only 56.00 mm (2.205 in), with the case being just 38.70 mm (1.524 in). King-sized Cigarettes on the other hand are 3 - 3 1/4 inches in length (according to thesmokingstore.com) The proper loading range would be around 15-26 grains, depending on several variables. Stephen King's ignorance and political hyperbole shows here. The Kalashnikov fires a round that is on the lower end of the rifle scale. It is nowhere near the "high power" round those in the media with a political agenda try to make it out to be. In short, Stephen King has made the ammunition ~3x larger with a powder charge ~6x to high. The Regulators (1996) -none Blaze (2007) -none __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Content